ABSTRACT
Those approaching Alain Badiou’s philosophy for the first time might, at first glance, find his thought somewhat out of place among contemporary intellectual trends. This chapter provides a basic introduction to Badiou’s philosophy, focusing on the themes of being, truth and the subject, as these are articulated in Being and Event and, to some extent, the Logics of Worlds, with an eye toward how these themes relate to religion and theology. It discusses the place that Badiou’s Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism plays within Badiou’s philosophy. The chapter suggests throughout that his thought recapitulates key religious and theological notions, especially those found in Christianity. Since understanding the sense of the identification of ontology with mathematics is crucial for grasping Badiou’s philosophy, it is helpful to briefly delineate the scope of the claim. Badiou certainly has no designs for overturning God’s death, but he continues to think that truth and the subject provide the themes of philosophy proper.
